I remember reading the ad for the Carcano in Herters Catalog maybe a year before JFK was shot. Herters described it as "the gun that lost the war for Italy". They made no bones that it was a piece of junk. This friend of mine had one. I recall that it seemed like a "nice little carbine" but very crudely made.
I have handled Carcano's, examined the actions, and I do not believe they were junk. The WW2 generation based its opinions of weapons on the fighting quality of the Armies they fought. Germans kicked ass, so American GI's thought highly of German weapons. For most service men, Italians knew they were on the wrong side, were badly lead, poorly supplied, and eager to quit. So American GI's thought poorly of Italian weapons. The evaluation of Japanese weapons were a bit more complicated. The WW2 generation held very racist views about Japanese.:bug eyed little guys with buck teeth. They also were very nasty fighters, would rather die than surrender. The Japanese were brutal to their own men, who in turn, were brutal to the enemy. I knew many a WW2 veteran and all of them hated the Japanese, hated them till their dying day. The WW2 generation thought Japanese weapons were junk, but they were wrong about Arisaka rifles, just as they were about Carcano's. The Arisaka is a very well designed rifle, and good versions are very well built. The last ditch rifles look rough, but they will go bang and not hurt the user.
The WW2 generation had very racist and Nationalistic opinions about their enemies and their weapons. It does not mean they were right.
Oswald bought a surplus military weapon with a scope. It was cheap, but it was not junk. It sure blew the brains out of JFK, poor guy. He did not deserve to die on National television. I have been to the Plaza, the distances are very short, and I am of the opinion, I could have made the first shot easily. It is so short, I might have made it with a pistol. The second one would have required a quick bolt manipulation, but I think it would have been easy for someone shooting using a rest, and off the left shoulder. A lefty could have kept the right hand on the bolt handle.
The class of 1964 will soon be joining JFK in the grave. The sooner the better as I am tired of their generational irrationality about the JFK assassination. As a class they were so fascinated about Jackie, Johnny, Teddy, Bobbie, and all thing Kennedy. And the pain, the horrible obsessive pain around that terrible moment when their world crashed and burned in Texas. Well, the good thing is, they are reaching the end of the line, and when they are all nice and dead and quiet, the world will no longer have to listen to their pain and paranoia.